Label: ESP-Disk, 2025

Personnel - Larry Ochs: tenor and sopranino saxophone; Joe Morris: bass; Charles Downs: drums.

Saxophonist Larry Ochs teams up with Flow Trio’s rhythm section—bassist Joe Morris and drummer Charles Downs—for this fully improvised session. Despite the trio never having played together before, they generate moments of noisy frisson, though not enough to make the material truly memorable.

From the outset, they push toward the ‘outer’ limits, frequently skirting the aggressive edge of sound in a freewheeling display of musical camaraderie. The opening track, “Yay-Hidee-Yonk-Yoh”, is high-caliber, shifting from a layered blend of bowed bass, sweeping sopranino phrases, and fluid drumming into a more grounded interplay of bass pizzicato, low-pitched tenor, and awkwardly marching drum patterns. The second track, “Yonk-Hidee-Yo-Yay-Yay”, begins with bass and drums bleeding into each other, creating a homogenous tapestry over which Ochs delivers an expressive vocabulary filled with pungent tenor growls and infectious aplomb.

“Hiddee-Yay-Yoh-Yonk-Yohhh” continues the pattern of playfully odd titles but is brimming with wry gestures that spread tension throughout. Jarring saxophone bursts punctuate the frantic free playing, while the rhythm section maintains a solid comping presence. However, the album tends to feel dense and somewhat repetitive, lacking standout moments. That said, the tangled title cut, “Every Day-All the Way”, introduces early sopranino flights and serrated arco bass textures before attempting a fresh build midway, evolving from a soft mutter into an unstructured sonic mesh.

Unpolished and raw, this date grows somewhat tiresome by the second track, leaving an impression of potential left unrealized.